News

Fifa sponsor Adidas warns against 'negative tenor' of Qatar claims

Investigations into the corruption surrounding Qatar's successful bid to host the 2022 World Cup

Fifa sponsor Adidas has joined Sony in voicing concerns about Qatar’s winning
bid for the 2022 World Cup.

The German sportswear company announced that the "negative tenor" of claims
about the bid is not good for "football nor for Fifa and its partners".

Today, The Sunday Times reported that Sony became the first sponsor to call
for an investigation into our expose on the victorious Qatar bid.

The decision by two key sponsors of Fifa to speak out against its integrity
adds further pressure for an inquiry into the revelations.

Meanwhile, foreign secretary William Hague has emphasised the need for
“international confidence in sporting bodies.”

Hague told Sky News “there have been some very serious allegations, it’s
important that they are looked into in a very transparent way and in a way
that commands everybody’s confidence”.

Adding a note of caution, he added “we will have to see this week the result
of that investigation before we leap to judgement on this.

“[But] it is very important that there is international confidence in
sporting bodies and in how these decisions about where major sporting events
are held so we want that principle to be followed but let’s see what they
actually find first of all.”

Both the former sports minister David Mellor and ex-England captain Sol
Campbell adopted a sterner stance.

Mr Mellor argued that “what is quite clear is that this World Cup should never
have been awarded to Qatar and can never be played in Qatar and the only
issue is how soon will the whole thing be pulled” while Mr Campbell said
that Sony’s actions will make the seriousness of the accusations start
“sinking in” but warned "as we’ve seen with FIFA, they’ve done it time and
time again... No one wants to say anything because if one person says
something it all goes down so it is difficult.”

He added "for me, winning the World Cup for $5m is quite cheap in comparison.
There is a lot of money to be made by actually hosting the World Cup and all
the sponsors . I think today Sony was voicing their opinion and their
concerns that we want to see a bit more detail because you’ve got to have a
fair clean fight.”

Qatar continued to deny today that the disgraced Fifa vice-president Mohamed
Bin Hammam paid around £3m to African football officials to influence their
votes on the country’s bid.

"The Qatar 2022 Bid Committee always upheld the highest standard of ethics and
integrity in its successful bid to host the 2022 FIFA World Cup.

"In regard to the latest allegations from The Sunday Times, we say again that
Mohamed Bin Hammam played no official or unofficial role in Qatar's 2022 Bid
Committee."